"Location-based services provide consumers with a host of new usage scenarios on MID and UMPC platforms," said Rob DeLine, Director of Marketing for Intel's Ultra Mobility Group. "The SiRFstarIII technology combined with Intel silicon solutions will enable innovative, location-aware platforms."

Despite Intel's optimism and support from other industry heavyweights such as Microsoft, the UMPC platform is not really taking off. The cost of this kind of device is very high and its usage between smartphones and laptops has still to be demonstrated. In a study conducted in April last year Market analyst In-Stat thought the UMPC market would only reach 7.8 million units by 2011.